Facebook's been experimenting with this for a while. Some Facebook users have reported seeing the Marketplace button on the bottom row of the app for months.
Smart move by Facebook. Craigslist is somewhat ubiquitous despite how awful it is. Facebook is uniquely positioned to (finally) dismantle the long-time peer-to-peer marketplace.

@rrhoover It's ubiquitous despite it being awful? How is it awful? Craigslist looks the way it does because it works just fine. I think Craigslist is a good model for a lot of these utility-like services.

@rrhoover the popularity of Craigslist as a use case for @burner makes it very clear to me that a lot of users want privacy in some kinds of peer-to-peer transactions. There are times, though, when trust would help move transactions forward, or when knowing you're helping out a friend is an important complement to a few dollars.
When you're selling a car or a high-end piece of electronics, you don't want to sign a warrantee or have people come back to you if they have complaints on an "as-is" purchase. But if you need to move some concert tickets you can't use, or wanting to get rid of a perfectly good bike or used phone, a social network might be perfect. I've always thought marketplace would be interesting on facebook and will be interested to see if they nail it on this iteration. (It's not yet available to me, though.)

@rrhoover I think doubly smart is that they're introducing this after introducing payments via Messenger. Putting the payment system out first, and then following it with an ecosystem in which those payments can exist, seems to me to be the best way to leverage to the new Marketplace release.
I wonder if we'll see other social networks follow suit. Doesn't seem too far-fetched to conceive a scenario in which a social platform like Twitter might try to take similar advantage of ecommerce. Actually, a partnership with Square to create such a dynamic is a fun thought-experiment, though I'm not sure if that legally qualifies as a conflict of interest, as Jack Dorsey is currently the CEO for both companies.
Food for thought though.

@chhhris@cojovo agree on the expensive items. 100%. Those of course require more research, personal response, and time. Various factors in the decision-making process, for example I wouldn't buy from someone with poor grammar or slow response. But if it's soccer cleats, a phone charger, or simple items like a backpack, I don't care to reach that level of friendship or knowing. With the amount of small/random items I usually buy on Craigslist, I just dislike the idea of opening that quick exchange world to my personal world. If this makes sense to you.

@cojovo When I buy or sell on Craigslist I try to search the person on socials to see what they look like so at least know who to look for when meeting to exchange. I'm usually successful via linkedin or usually FB....so this speeds this up. We're not becoming FB buddies...it's more like seeing your drivers profile photo in Uber + verified account.

Facebook has been pushing Marketplace for quite a while now. They should have done this early on considering all the garage sale groups that are on there. Even though a bit late to the game, it can be a good competitor to likes of Letgo and OfferUp

Smart of Facebook to try to capture that local market audience. People have been wanting but struggling to do this on their platform. Facebook here has the network and infrastructure in place to dramatically change and simplify the way local business is being done. Hopefully this isn't an afterthought and they keep building on it.